Come Vote on the Crafting Menu!

[AmyJane]

Many of you probably know that a new Quality of Life update will be coming out soon, and this one brings a pretty drastic change: The crafting menu!

Gone are the days of scrolling through lists of stuff to find the thing you want. We can try out the new menu in the Beta version that is live now, but many users have qualms with the new system, while many others like it. I have proposed some changes, and made a mock up of the menu to show my vision.

Can you guys let me know what you think of my edit compared to what is currently available in the beta?

Here is my edit:

Here is the Beta:

In my edit, the Mods button remains at the top, as well as the search window and sort options. We also retain the customizable frequently used tabs on the side.

The sections are as follows in vertical columns:

• Character Specific Items (Special things, like Wanda's watches, Woody's Axe, Maxwell's Book, etc)
• Favorite items (Whatever you mark with the star)
• Event Items (Items that are exclusive to whatever event is going on in-world)

•  
• Science (Science machine, alchemy engine, thermal measurer, lightening rod, rain-o-meter, etc)
• Magic (Prestihatitator, Shadow Manipulator, Amulets, Staves, etc)
• Refinement (Papyrus, Rope, Boards, Cut Stone, Nightmare Fuel, etc)

•  
• Light (Fires, Lantern, Miner Hat, etc)
• Tools (Axe, Pickaxe, Shovel, Hammer, etc)
• Survival Tools (Bug Net, Basket Trap, etc)

•  
• Cooking (Crock Pot, Drying Rack, Salt Box, Recipe Book, [I think the Ice Box could go here since it's a kitchen thing], etc)
• Farming (Garden Digamajig, Composting Bin, Bucket-o-Poop, etc)
• Healing (Healing Salve, Honey Poultice, Tillweed Salve, Booster Shot, Telltale Heart, etc)

•  
• Weapons (Spear, Hambat, Bee Mine, Tail o' Three Cats, etc)
• Armor (Grass Suit, Log Suit, Marble Suit, Football Helmet, etc) 
• Clothing (All the clothing items, further broken down into season subcategories)

•  
• Structures (Walls, Fences, Gates, Pig Houses, etc)
• Storage (Chests, Backpack, etc)
• Decoration/Markers (Signs, Potter's Wheel, etc)
•  
• Beefalo Husbandry (Beefalo Bell, Beefalo Grooming Station, Brush, All the Saddles, Salt Lick, etc)
• Seafaring/Nautical (Boat Kit, Mast Kit, Anchor Kit, Steering Wheel Kit, Oar, etc) 
• Fishing (Fishing Rod, Sea Fishing Rod, all the Floats and Lures, etc)

I think items should be restricted to one tab if at all possible. If you look under the category that you think something should be and it's not there, that's what the search box is for. Don't make everything so redundant.

I don't feel that we need to have specific tabs just for weather related items, since all of them fall under other categories. I'd just have subcategories under clothing where clothing items for a given season show up to the right of the marker for that season (see the photo). There could be a subcategory for sanity as well for the things like the Garland, Seawreath, etc)

I'm not sure what the plan is for when we come up to something that gives us a temporary tab (like the Ancient Alter, Potter's Wheel, etc), but I guess the menu could just expand to show the temporary tab or something, then retract again when we're out of range).

[Daniel86268]

I think Klei wants to make things in the menu more beginner friendly, so when Beginners play the game, and notice "Oh, it's Winter!" then they just have to open the "Winter" tab, and have everything they need to stay warm.

I fully agree with you though, I really dislike the redundancy of having one item in multiple tabs. It makes everything just unnecessarily cluttered. So every tab just has more items which I have to go through to find my stuff than it needs, cause the items are already somewhere else.

I like your more compressed idea where there's just some subcategories for one tab.

[jan Mele]

I think separating tools into 2 categories is a bad idea.

The icon for decorations should be a statue, imho. Tab icons should be smaller, i think.

[Cheggf]

I agree, there's too many tabs and redundancies. Overall I think they're heading in a good direction though.

[. . .]

all I want is the icons to have color and personality again instead of being shadows of their former selves... literally

[HellHeater]

i thought poll was about original and beta one so i voted for beta

 

hehe oops

yours doesnt look bad ngl

[lionking102]

2 hours ago, . . . said:

all I want is the icons to have color and personality again instead of being shadows of their former selves... literally

I think I'm alone with this, but I like the monochrom icons more. I also loved the old ones, but for me the UI looks just cleaner how it is. 

[AmyJane]

4 hours ago, . . . said:

all I want is the icons to have color and personality again instead of being shadows of their former selves... literally

Well, the admin did mention that the image that shows the new menu has temporary art in it. Maybe they intend to change the icons? Cause yeah, that's my biggest gripe with the new system.

[Notecja]

I dont think "personality" ones look good. It gives more messy feeling, like mixed shoes. New icons after few tweaks (yep, its visible when one icon is super detailed, and other just a few geometric shapes) will be much better.

[jan Mele]

I just like how the tabs are sorted in OP's edit.

[maradyne]

I like the general idea of tabs within tabs. Seasonal Protection > Cold/Heat/Wetness, that kind of thing, similar to what you showed in the OP.

I also feel that colored icons and grouping a few similar filters together would help make the system feel less...like a confusable sea of icons, as opposed to the beta.

[-Nick-]

I very much like beta version more. I do want some of the old icons to come back along side some art for the new ones.

[shiguld]

I voted for the beta one, but still a good effort. Interestingly, your design highlighted for me the reason why klei went the colorless and small icon route for the category icons, which i believe is the better ui

For me, the big/colorful icons in your design looks pretty, but extremely overwhelming. The icons arent standardized in size and color, so you also dont pay attention to all the tabs equally. 

In contrast, the beta design is muted with more relative spacing/padding, which makes it easier to look at collectively and calmly. It's boring and soulless, but that's exactly why it's functional as a category icon. 

I do prefer the use of the white highlighted background for the icons in your design though, instead of just the white border in the beta. 

Sub-categories like the weather-dress are pretty useful and i think would be a great idea to implement to reduce tab clutter. I think your implementation can be improved if you use a horizontal line divider (with words or icons) to separate each category instead of a first column header style. Reason being your design may not scale as well for an imbalanced number of items. For example, if winter has 10 items and the other seasons have like 2, you might be forced to scroll right, or add icons below the first column, which be less efficient than a horizontal line divider. 

Anyways, some great ideas, some misses, good effort.

 

[goatt]

I think you can take on people's advice and get a version 2.0

[GodIess]

On 3/3/2022 at 8:42 AM, lionking102 said:

I think I'm alone with this, but I like the monochrom icons more. I also loved the old ones, but for me the UI looks just cleaner how it is. 

for this case, I made a mod, you can find it in the steam, there are monochrome icons and old ones.

[GodIess]

i did it ))))

[reallychina]

the menu is fine as is, id just prefer a batch crafting button since the new design has plenty of space for it